


Assorted Mostly Booster Gold Drabbles

by HotAndColdAF



Category: Booster Gold (Comics), DC Comics
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 13:16:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 10,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16661737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HotAndColdAF/pseuds/HotAndColdAF
Summary: Dumping all the comics drabbles I did back in 2006-07. Mostly Booster Gold-focused, some Ted Kord Blue Beetle stuff, mild hints of Batfamily here and there. See the index for exact details on who is in what fic.





	1. Index

**Ch. 1** : The Index  
That's where you are now! These are the summaries basically left intact as I originally wrote them, which means that now, 10+ years later, they may be missing some crucial context in terms of what issues had come out recently. All I can say is that generally speaking this covers the time period from about halfway through 52 into the first handful of issues of Booster Gold's ongoing that followed it.

 **Ch. 2** : Temper, Temper  
Originally Published: Oct. 12th, 2006  
Characters: Booster Gold  
Rating: PG-13 for language  
Word Count: 235  
Spoilers: Week 7 of 52, but it's only slightly referenced  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Technically AU, but totally could've happened in continuity. (ETA: Definitely not any more, but when I wrote it, it was possible)

 **Ch. 3** : Everything Hurts  
Originally Published: Oct. 18th, 2006  
Characters: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 260  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Extreme Justice.  
A/N: The prompt I used is about powerlessness, so I started with busted suits and ended up with a busted Booster.

 **Ch. 4** : The Dangers of Boosting Tires  
Originally Published: Oct. 29th, 2006  
Characters: Booster Gold (sorta?), Jason Todd, Batman  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 558  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: AU. It occurred to me one day, that, really, the biggest difference between Booster and Jason is time. Truly, this could only end in one way. *Proceeds to ignore the Even Robins Curse*

 **Ch. 5** : A Pointless Argument  
Originally Published: Nov. 16th, 2006  
Characters: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (mention)  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 473  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Once upon a time, I came across somebody on a forum who vehemently argued that Jaime Reyes, the current Blue Beetle, shouldn't be calling himself the Blue Beetle, because he has powers and Ted didn't, and it occurred to me that, really, the same argument could be applied more aptly to Ted than Jaime, since Jaime's powers come from the Scarab, which granted powers to the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garret. It's a thought. And, more importantly, it turned into a plot bunny. Of sad. I can write things that end with happiness and sunshine, really! D:

 **Ch. 6** : Business As Usual  
Originally Published: Dec. 21st, 2006  
Characters: Booster Gold, Lex Luthor, Mercy  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 453  
Spoilers: Extremely mild 52 spoilers. Nothing series-ruining, or even issue-ruining.  
Warnings: None  
A/N: AU. Part of Booster's appeal is that he makes the worst decisions EVER. It is also worth noting that, for a while, this was my theory as to the origin of Supernova, although recent events in 52 have disproved it, so I figured I might as well share it as a fic.

 **Ch. 7** : Punches  
Originally Published: Jan. 1st, 2007  
Characters: Booster Gold, Maxwell Lord, Wonder Woman  
Rating: PG-13  
Word Count: 262  
Spoilers: Countdown and OMAC, but they're pretty old, does it even count as spoilers anymore?  
Warnings: Ummm... non-descriptive gore? Does that even make sense?  
A/N: AU. I am somewhat bothered by the startling revelation that metahuman PR actually owes quite a lot to Guy being around. I mean, does that really seem right to you? I am also surprised that I never wrote this earlier, on account of it being so obvious.

 **Ch. 8** : A Matter of Perspective  
Originally Published: Feb. 14th, 2007  
Characters: Booster Gold, Batman (mention)  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 610  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Because Booster trying to kill Batman is meta and hurty, given Booster's city of origin, and I don't think the guy who wrote it (Rucka, right?) even knows. And the giant Batman statue? Totally canon.

 **Ch. 9** : Spectacular  
Originally Published: Feb. 16th, 2007  
Characters: Blue Beetle, Wonder Woman  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 193  
Spoilers: Manhunter #28  
Warnings: None  
A/N: This fic is so full of holes, yet the bunny wouldn't go away unless I relented and wrote it. Argh. I don't like it. Something about it feels all... off, and I can't put my finger on it and it's bothering me. OK, so this fic hinges entirely on me making two assumptions that are probably wildly inaccurate. The first being that the Ted in Manhunter is, in fact, Ted (or, at least, thinks he is), and the second being that Diana is unaware of the reveal in Week 37. Yeah. Chock full of holes. Also, I figured it was about time I picked on Ted instead of Booster.

 **Ch. 10** : Marital Arts  
Originally Published: Mar. 10th, 2007  
Characters: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 215  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Implied het, so if that sort of thing makes you bursts into flames or something, this might not be the fic for you.  
A/N: AU. I wrote something happy for once! :D Also, I felt like doing something dialogue-only. And something that was nothing but pure pointlessness. It was fun.

 **Ch. 11** : Lucky Number Three  
Originally Published: Mar. 17th, 2007  
Characters: Tim Drake, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (mention)  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 324  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: AU. Batman needs a Robin. Booster needs a Beetle. Somethings in life are really just that simple. I feel like I shouldn't include this in my psych_30 prompts, because this is very much a Tim fic rather than a Booster fic. ...I'm ignoring that feeling and saying it counts anyway. Nyaaaaaaah. Gosh, I hope I got Tim's voice right.

 **Ch. 12** : Computer Bug  
Originally Published: Apr. 3rd, 2007  
Characters: Ted Kord  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 250  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: AU. Totally __marcelo's fault. TOTALLY. He writes this sort of thing all the time, and I was surprised that he hadn't written this specific concept, because well, it practically writes itself. And, as a matter of fact, it did. Funny how that works.

 **Ch. 13** : The Root of Robbery  
Originally Published: May. 1st, 2007  
Characters: Booster Gold  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 156  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Because canon is taking its dear sweet time explaining what Booster was up to in between OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis. Muchos gracias to wonderfish for beta-ry.

 **Ch. 14** : Illusions and Other Tricks  
Originally Published: Jun. 24th, 2007  
Characters: Ted Kord, J'onn J'onzz, Barbara Gordon  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 213  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Will not make a damned lick of sense until you've read __marcelo's [Masks](http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/273718.html) and [In The Company of Mirrors](http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/295328.html). Will make altogether too much sense afterwards.

 **Ch. 15** : MST3K Fodder  
Originally Published: Sep. 25th, 2007  
Characters: Booster Gold, The Joker  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 407  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: When I started this prompt table, I said I'd do wharf rats for the Phobia prompt unless I could think of something better. I thought of something better. Strangely enough, this is nowhere near as terrifying as Booster vs. Joker as written by me has any right to be. Also, I swear that I wrote this long before the solicit to Booster Gold #5 came out, as my lovely beta wonderfish (betafish?) can confirm.

 **Ch. 16** : I Put Most of My Skill Points in Blather (And I Put the Rest in Knowledge (Booster Gold))  
Originally Published: Oct. 13th, 2007  
Characters: Yours Truly, Booster Gold  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 1,018  
Spoilers: Various events in 52, and one very small, convoluted, not actually spoilery reference to something in Booster Gold #3.  
Warnings: Self-insertion?  
A/N: Done for dcdailylife. 100% fun, insubstantial, 1st-person blathering. Seems I'm rather good at that. I kind of had to fudge my own time line a bit to make it work, but, honestly, give it a year or two, and this will fit absolutely perfectly into canon. Huzzah for the sliding time line!

 **Ch. 17** : Nightmares  
Originally Published: Nov. 23rd, 2007  
Characters: Booster Gold  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 291  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: About as soul-crushingly depressing as you'd expect this prompt to be from me. Which is to say, very.  
A/N: So I wrote this in April, at the latest, had wonderfish beta it, and then left it on my hard drive and forgot about it. Genius! So have some kinda old fic. Strangely, it seems to have aged somewhat well and I like it better now than I did when I wrote it. Make of that what you will.

 **Ch. 18** : Preventive Measures  
Originally Published: Nov. 27th, 2007  
Characters: Jonar Carter (Booster's father), Booster Gold  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 380  
Spoilers: Booster Gold #4  
Warnings: Just the regular scary.  
A/N: From this interview that you should have read months ago anyway:  
BOOSTER: Careful's my middle name.

SKEETS: Actually, your middle name is Jon, which in 25th Century English is short for Jonar, which means "he who tries and fails."

BOOSTER: It was my father's name. Long story.

SKEETS: One I myself am anxious to hear.

I was anxious to hear it, too. So I wrote it. Sort of. AU fic and let's hope it stays that way, eh? Beta'd by wonderfish.

 **Ch. 19** : 20 Random Facts about Booster Gold  
Originally Published: Dec. 16th, 2007  
Rating: PG  
Characters: Booster Gold, various others  
Warning(s): None  
Word Count: 985  
Author's Note(s): Written for the DC Random Facts Fest. wonderfish helped.

 **Ch. 20** : Charybdis Fig  
Originally Published: Dec. 29th, 2007  
Characters: Booster Gold, Ted Kord, Michelle Carter (mentions)  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 663  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Booster Gold #1 gave Booster an official birthdate, so, of course, I had to write something for it. Specifically, Booster's first birthday with the League. Coincidentally his first birthday after his sister died, too. Aheh. (Just be glad I didn't write about the birthday he inevitably had to have had during 52, I guess. That would be worse.)


	2. Temper, Temper

Title: Temper, Temper  
Characters: Booster Gold  
Rating: PG-13 for language  
Word Count: 235  
Spoilers: Week 7 of 52, but it's only slightly referenced  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Technically AU, but totally could've happened in continuity. (ETA: Definitely not any more, but when I wrote it, it was _possible_ )

\---

Booster Gold was furious.

Michael Carter was downright _enraged._

Booster pinned the other man to the wall with one arm and wrestled the baseball bat away from him with the other. He had no idea how this guy had managed to get into his apartment or why he was so determined to bash his brains out, and, whoever he was, he was too busy shouting every expletive he'd ever learned to answer any questions, even if Booster had bothered to ask them. Booster was sure of one thing about the man, though.

He _had_ to be abso-fucking-lutely _nuts_.

And it wasn't as if Booster wasn't _already_ having a bad enough time of it, what with the whole damn fiasco with Ralph and that Castell guy and everything; now he had to come back to his apartment and get a madman trying to kill him with a baseball bat. Oh, he was having a _great_ week, no doubt about _that_.

The blonde superhero glared at the still-cursing psychopath, trying to figure out what to do with him. To his credit, the lunatic had several suggestions for what Booster could to with _himself_ , and Booster had to admit, the man was very creative.

When the attacker finally paused in his torrent of insults, Booster took the opportunity to ask him who the hell he was.

"I'm _Booster Gold_ , you _imposter_ ," Michael Carter spat back with a snarl.


	3. Index

Title: Everything Hurts  
Characters: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 260  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Extreme Justice.  
A/N: The prompt is about powerlessness, so I started with busted suits and ended up with a busted Booster.

\---

He was dying.

This wasn't new, exactly, as, if one wanted to be technical about it, he was in a constant state of dying these days. This particular moment was only notable because he was doing it more so.

He was also in a great deal of pain. Like dying, this was a constant in his life, and was only notable for being of a greater degree.

He gasped, uselessly trying to force air into his lungs. He could feel his heart failing, along with something he couldn't identify in his abdomen. Probably multiple somethings, really.

As his vision began to swim and time seemed to slow down, Booster wondered if he was actually going to go the full 9 yards and die this time. Although he'd never admit it, part of him wanted to just hurry up and get it over with. A very small part, granted, but still. Besides, the majority of him most definitely did not want to hurry up and get it over with, anyway, so it was a moot point.

Then, suddenly, the suit reactivated and Booster was shunted back into full-fledged consciousness. He wasn't aware that the pain had begun to subside until it came back in full force. His vision came back into focus and Booster was treated to the all-too-familiar view of a very concerned Blue Beetle.

"Hi, Ted," the armored hero said with a reassuring grin.

Beetle's expression immediately softened from worry to relief before he asked, "You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

It was the lying that hurt the most.


	4. The Dangers of Boosting Tires

Title: The Dangers of Boosting Tires  
Characters: Booster Gold (sorta?), Jason Todd, Batman  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 558  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: AU. It occured to me one day, that, really, the biggest difference between Booster and Jason is time. Truly, this could only end in one way. *Proceeds to ignore the [Even Robins Curse](http://www.evenrobins.net)*

\---

"Jason, are you sure this is a good idea?" the blond youth asked, nervously wringing his hands around a lug wrench.

"'Course I'm sure," the black-haired boy answered. "I do this all the time. Now quit whining, or I'm not gonna help you."

"Please, Jason, I _need_ your help. I need the money. Ma’s getting real sick, and I-"

"And I _know_ , Mike. You already told me, and I already said I'd help, so quit your moaning and--hey! Look at _that_ piece of work!" Jason stopped abruptly and pointed to a peculiar-looking automobile.

"Wow, that's a pretty fancy car," Mike observed. "What's it doin' in this part of town? Doesn't fit."

"Whatever it's doin' here, I sure hope it's worth loosing its tires for," Jason said with a grin, heading toward the vehicle.

"You've gotta be kidding! We're gonna steal the tires offa _that_ car?" Mike followed Jason, despite his incredulity.

"Of course we are! Serves them right, too, if they're gonna be dumb enough to leave a fancy thing like that all alone. We're just lucky enough to get to it first!" Jason explained. "Now, come _on_ , Mike; those tires aren't gonna unscrew themselves, y'know."

"Yeah, I know. Still don't like it, though," Mike muttered as he approached the car and began removing one of the tires.

"Remember, _you're_ the one who asked for my help."

"I know, I _know_."

They continued their work in silence for a time, until, suddenly, a hand pulled Mike into the air by the back of his shirt and he caught sight of Jason running away before he found himself staring at a black-cowled head that was _way_ too close for comfort.

Quickly filled with terror, Mike squeaked out a hesitant "Um, hi?"

The man in the cowl growled back at him. "What are you doing?"

"I, um, I, I," Mike stuttered before gasping and babbling, "I was stealing your tires and I'm really really sorry and I didn't really want to do it but Jason said it was OK and that he does this sort of thing all the time and he never gets caught and I really need the money 'cuz my mom's getting really really sick and I think she's dying and I don't want her to die 'cuz she's my mom and all and Dad's not around anymore and I don't know what I'd do if Ma died and I don't wanna be an orphan 'cuz I hear that real bad stuff happens in orphanages like they separate siblings and stuff and I don't wanna loose Shel _and_ Ma and I'm really really sorry really and I'll never do it again and I'll be a really good boy forever and ever and _please don't kill me, please_!"

Silence drifted over the street in the wake of Mike's rant as the man's cowl shifted in such a way as to suggest that an eyebrow was being raised under it. Then, just as suddenly as he'd been snatched up, Mike was dropped back to the ground.

"Get in the car." It was most definitely _not_ a request.

"Um, I'm not supposed to accept rides from strangers," Mike answered without really thinking about it, getting back to his feet and wiping some dirt off the seat of his pants.

"Get. In. The car," the looming figure repeated.

"Um, yessir."


	5. A Pointless Argument

Title: A Pointless Argument  
Characters: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (mention)  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 473  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.  
A/N: Once upon a time, I came across somebody on a forum who vehementally argued that Jaime Reyes, the current Blue Beetle, shouldn't be calling himself the Blue Beetle, because he has powers and Ted didn't, and it occured to me that, really, the same argument could be applied more aptly to Ted than Jaime, since Jaime's powers come from the Scarab, which granted powers to the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garret. It's a thought. And, more importantly, it turned into a plot bunny. Of sad. I can write things that end with happiness and sunshine, really! D:

\---

It _had_ to be a morning class, didn't it? The only class he was taking--the only class he could _afford_ to take on his salary as a _night_ watchman, and it had to be a _morning_ class.

Booster Carter tried to bury his head farther into his arms in a futile attempt to block out the noise of the classroom. By all rights, he should have had time to catch a quick nap and relieve some of his tiredness before class actually began, but, of course, two of his classmates just _had_ to be engaged in a loud, heated debate right behind him. Booster had the sneaking suspicion that they were doing it on purpose just to torment him, on account of who he was, or, more specifically, what he'd done.

It was kind of ridiculous, since Metropolis U had only benefited from his betting, but it was probably due more to the principle of the matter. Booster understood that, but he still thought it was pretty unfair. Sure, he'd broken the rules a bit, but that didn't mean he deserved to have his rest stolen from him by a pair of angry nerds vehemently arguing about, of all things, what to refer to the second Blue Beetle as.

"He's the second Blue Beetle! It's what he called himself, it's what the experts call him, it's what the textbooks call him, and it's what everybody calls him but _you_!" the first one declared.

"But he didn't use the _Scarab_! Y'know, the thing that makes a Blue Beetle a Blue Beetle? All the Blue Beetles used it except the second one, because he wasn’t really a Blue Beetle, he just stole the name! Hell, he was hardly a hero at all!" the second retorted.

Booster growled a bit in an effort to alert the two to the fact that it would be wise of them to stop arguing right behind him, but he was ignored.

"Don't be ridiculous! The second Blue Beetle was an important member of the Justice League and-"

"You mean he was a glorified taxi driver for the Justice League."

Booster readjusted himself rather pointedly so his hands were over his ears, and, for his efforts, was ignored.

"He was not!" the first of the two cried in an insulted voice.

"He was so!"

By this point, Booster was pulling his hair and grinding his teeth in order to not explode in a particularly violent fashion, but his valiant efforts and their probable result were ignored.

"He was no such thing!"

"He was, and you know it!"

"Would you both shut up?" Booster shouted, shooting into an upright position and turning to look at the pair. "Nobody gives a damn about the second Blue Beetle!"

Ten years later, he would have given anything in the world to have been wrong.


	6. Business As Usual

Title: Business As Usual  
Characters: Booster Gold, Lex Luthor, Mercy  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 453  
Spoilers: Extremely mild 52 spoilers. Nothing series-ruining, or even issue-ruining.  
Warnings: None  
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.  
A/N: AU. Part of Booster's appeal is that he makes the worst decisions EVER. It is also worth noting that, for a while, this was my theory as to the origin of Supernova, although recent events in 52 have disproved it, so I figured I might as well share it as a fic.

\---

"Now, what is it you wished to discuss with me, Mr. Gold?" Lex Luthor asked, pressing his fingertips together.

"Don't call me that. I'm not Booster Gold anymore," the blond on the opposite side of the desk answered.

"Oh? So the man currently flying around Metropolis with ads printed all over his costume isn't you, then?" It wasn't a question Lex really needed to ask, judging by Booster's general scruffiness, but he asked it anyway.

Booster frowned in reply before saying, "No. Maybe. He might be a different me, but he's not me me, if that makes any sense?"

"I think I understand. I've had something similar happen to me, recently."

"Oh, really?" Booster asked, inclining his head to the side.

"You didn't hear about it? It was all over the news."

"I've been... avoiding the news a lot lately."

"Hm." Lex knew better than to ask why, so he asked a different question. "What should I call you then, if not Mr. Gold?"

Booster frowned again. There was a pause before he took a breath and answered, "Carter. Michael Carter."

"Well, then, Mr. Carter, what brings you here?" Lex asked.

"I want to make you a deal, Luthor.' He stood up. "Could I, um, have my bag back?" He looked back at Mercy. Mercy looked at Lex. Lex nodded his approval and Mercy shoved an oversized duffel bag into Booster's--Michael's--chest with a bit more force than what was probably necessary. "Thanks ever so," Michael said with great sarcasm before he opened the bag.

He pulled out what appeared to be a can of tomato soup and then a towel before he found what he was looking for. He held out his costume for Lex to see, but not to touch, not yet. "You give me what I want, you get this. The power source has been destroyed, but the circuitry weave's intact. Super-strength, force field, energy blasts. I'm sure you have somebody who can retro-engineer it well enough."

"No flight?" Lex asked.

"Flight's not in the suit. It's different. You're not getting that, not yet. You don't need it, the suit alone is priceless."

"What is it you want, then, Mr. Carter, that you're willing to trade this priceless suit for it?"

Michael tossed the costume on top of the duffel bag and pulled something out of his pocket. He unfolded it and placed it on Lex's desk. It was wrinkled and torn and looked like it had been rained on or something at some point, but it was still definitely an advertisement for the Everyman Project. Michael pointed to it and said, "I want you to make me a hero. I want you to make me better than _Superman_."


	7. Punches

Title: Punches  
Characters: Booster Gold, Maxwell Lord, Wonder Woman  
Rating: PG-13  
Word Count: 262  
Spoilers: Countdown and OMAC, but they're pretty old, does it even count as spoilers anymore?  
Warnings: Ummm... non-descriptive gore? Does that even make sense?  
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.  
A/N: AU. I am somewhat bothered by the startling revelation that metahuman PR actually owes quite a lot to Guy being around. I mean, does that really seem right to you? I am also surprised that I never wrote this earlier, on account of it being so _obvious_.

\---

Max admitted it. Diana asked him and he acknowledged it as truth, like it didn't even matter. _Batman_ had had more emotion about it than that, and Batman wasn't the one who'd pulled the trigger on Ted. No, that'd be Max.

And then the truth of it hit Booster worse than he'd ever been hit before, and, well, there was _another_ friend gone.

Superman tackled Diana and, in the blink of an eye, they were gone and it was just Max, alone. At least, Max thought he was alone. He'd know he was wrong soon enough, but Booster decided that he wanted to beat that damned satellite to it.

"Max." Max turned around and, "You _bastard_!" Using the suit's super strength was overkill, of course--Max _was_ only human--but it made for _such_ a satisfying _crack_ when his fist met Max's face.

"Ted trusted you!" was quickly followed by his left fist meeting the other side of Max's face with an equally satisfying _crack_.

" _I_ trusted you!" Another _crack_.

"You were supposed to--" A sickening _thud_ this time, but Booster didn't notice.

"--be on--" _Thud_.

"--our side!" _Thud thud thud_.

Booster's stream of punches was suddenly stopped by a gentle, but firm hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at Diana questioningly.

"Michael, you can stop now," she told him, with a gentle, but firm voice that _understood_. "He's very dead."

Booster got shakily to his feet and looked down at what was, probably less than a minute ago, Max's head. "Yeah, he is, isn't he?"


	8. A Matter of Perspective

Title: A Matter of Perspective  
Characters: Booster Gold, Batman (mention)  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 610  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Because Booster trying to kill Batman is meta and hurty, given Booster's city of origin, and I don't think the guy who wrote it (Rucka, right?) even _knows_. And the giant Batman statue? Totally canon.

\---

Booster looked up at the larger than life statue of Batman looming above the park bench he was sitting on and wondered if he should do anything special for his birthday. Of course, he was just as twenty-seven as he'd been the day before, but, technically, he'd been born forty years ago. He considered turning himself into the police but decided he'd worked too hard at getting here to just give up like that.

It had taken him ages to find Rip Hunter, and he wasn't even the same Rip Hunter Booster had been friends with, but he helped anyway, which was pretty nice of him. When he asked when he wanted to go, Booster had to fight to tell him 2482 and not one of the years when he was in the league and Ted was still alive, just like Tora and Sue and Skeets and Dmitri and everybody else, but Rip--the Rip he knew, not this new Rip--had warned him about what happened when somebody was at the same time as themselves with a bit more detail than Booster would've liked to have heard, so he didn't. It wasn't something he'd wish on anybody.

It had taken some work to readjust to the twenty-fifth century after so many years--was it really only seven? It felt like so much longer--in the twenty-first. But it wasn't as much work as he'd thought it'd be. Before he left, he'd emptied out what was left of Ted's funds. He had felt absolutely terrible about it, but he had reminded himself that Ted wouldn't be needing the money anyway, since he was--Never mind. And besides, it wasn't like there had been much money there to take, anyway. But it made for a nice stack of twenties that was both worthless and priceless in this century.

He'd traded the money for useful legal tender slowly, a little here, a little there. Anywhere else in the world, there would've been questions, there would've been calls, and the police would have caught him, but this was Gotham. People didn't ask questions in Gotham. He'd bought himself some clothes and an apartment and currently had something vaguely resembling a normal life, but the money was going to run out sometime, and he wasn't sure what he'd do then.

Maybe he'd turn himself in and be done with it.

Booster opened his eyes and was surprised to find a dark-haired, middle-aged man looking down at him with a confused expression on his face.

"Hey, are you--? Nah, couldn't be; you're too young," he said. Booster shot a skeptical look at him.

"Who?" he asked with suspicion. Talking to strangers wasn't generally considered to be wise, but by the looks of it, this guy had enough money to convince himself that bad things wouldn't happen to him. It was stupid, but Booster humored him anyway.

"Booster Carter. He played football about, hmmm… twenty years ago. Damn." The man sat down on the bench next to Booster without asking his permission. "I knew it'd been a while, but I could've sworn it wasn't more than fifteen years...."

"Hmn," Booster offered non-committingly.

"A real shame how he went all bad, though. The man was damned good at the game. I heard he stole a time machine from the Space Museum in Metropolis afterwards, too. Isn't that something? Kind of typical, though, isn't it? Just when you think Gotham's capable of turning out somebody who actually ends up good, it has to go and prove you horribly wrong, huh?"

Booster looked up at the statue of Batman again and sighed. "Yeah, I know what you mean."


	9. Spectacular

Title: Spectacular  
Characters: Blue Beetle, Wonder Woman  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 193  
Spoilers: Manhunter [#28](https://www.livejournal.com/rsearch/?tags=%2328)  
Warnings: None  
A/N: This fic is so full of holes, yet the bunny wouldn't go away unless I relented and wrote it. Argh. I don't like it. Something about it feels all... off, and I can't put my finger on it and it's bothering me. OK, so this fic hinges entirely on me making two assumptions that are probably _wildly_ inaccurate. The first being that the Ted in Manhunter is, in fact, Ted (or, at least, thinks he is), and the second being that Diana is unaware of the reveal in Week 37. Yeah. Chock full of holes. Also, I figured it was about time I picked on Ted instead of Booster.

\---

Diana had been dreading this conversation since Ted first appeared that afternoon. By the look on his face, Ted had been dreading it, too.

He stood next to her, staring straight in front out the window instead of looking at her, and asked, "Did Booster make it out of the hospital all right?"

"Yes," Diana answered. "He recovered from his injuries startlingly quickly."

"I guess he didn't react well when he found out I was, uh, dead, did he?"

"He tried to kill Batman when he told him."

Most people would have reacted with disbelief, but Ted simply let out a half-chuckle and shook his head, a fond smile on his face. "Everything always does have to be spectacular with Booster."

A long silence followed, and Diana waited patiently for Ted to speak again.

He looked straight at her and asked, "He's dead, isn't he?" with only a slight waiver in his voice.

She paused before answering. "Yes. A nuclear submarine explosion over Metropolis."

Ted made a noise that was somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "A nuc--I'm not even going to ask how that's possible. It doesn't matter; it's spectacular."


	10. Marital Arts

Title: Marital Arts  
Characters: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 215  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Implied het, so if that sort of thing makes you bursts into flames or something, this might not be the fic for you.  
A/N: AU. I wrote something happy for once! :D Also, I felt like doing something dialogue-only. And something that was nothing but pure pointlessness. It was fun.

\---

"Done admiring yourself yet?"

"Of course not."

"Hrm."

"Jeez, Ted, cheer up, why don't you? It's a wedding, not a _funeral_. You should be _happy_."

"I _am_ happy. I'm just _nervous_."

"No need to be nervous, Ted; it's just the rest of your life, right?"

"I think I'm going to have a heart attack."

"Nu-uh, no heart attacks, Ted. If you have a heart attack out there, then I will absolutely die of embarrassment, and where will that leave us, huh?"

"Dead?"

"Exactly! Besides, you haven't even heard my speech yet! Or the toast!"

"Oh, God, you're going to be drunk off your ass when you give the toast, aren't you?"

"Well, of course! It wouldn't be a proper best man's toast if I wasn't, right?"

"Ugh. What am I getting myself into?"

"Marriage! Welcome to the party!"

"I'm splitting my sides."

"C'mon, Ted, what’s the worst that could happen?"

"Do you even need to _ask_ , Booster? We're superheroes! It'll practically be a _miracle_ if this thing goes off without a hitch."

"I thought getting hitched was the _idea_."

"Don't mix idioms, Booster. I thought you were past that."

"I apologize for attempting to have a sense of humor."

"Bah."

"Oh, hey, look at the time! Let's go. Your blushing bride awaits, Ted."

"Blushing. Right."


	11. Lucky Number Three

Title: Lucky Number Three  
Characters: Tim Drake, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (mention)  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 324  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: AU. Batman needs a Robin. Booster needs a Beetle. Somethings in life are really just that simple. I feel like I shouldn't include this in my psych_30 prompts, because this is very much a Tim fic rather than a Booster fic. ...I'm ignoring that feeling and saying it counts anyway. Nyaaaaaaah. Gosh, I hope I got Tim's voice right.

\---

Tim had to remind himself from time to time that he'd never intended to be Robin forever, or even as long as he had been. Just until a suitable replacement was found, and Steph was more than suitable. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it earlier. Maybe he just hadn't wanted to.

Of course, being retired didn't mean that he cut off all contact with the superheroic community. Oracle kept him up-to-date on what was going on, Steph stopped by when she could, Kon had made a visit or two, and Ted Kord kept a regular e-mail correspondence with him. They didn't usually talk about the business (Ted could talk about almost anything at length and was often willing to), but it made Tim feel kind of good to know there was somebody who was even worse at retirement than he was.

Then, one day, Babs told him that Ted was dead. Tim didn't want to believe it at first, but Babs had footage from the Watchtower. Batman had evidence. And Booster Gold, apparently, had some sort of death wish.

So Tim watched the video a few more times. He did some research, he did some thinking, he did some planning, and he made a decision. He asked the Oracle to arrange a meeting with Booster Gold.

Getting out of the house was easier than Tim had thought it would be. But then again, he had been retired for a while, and his dad worried a lot less than he used to. Getting to the appointed meeting place was, of course, effortless, as was the waiting. Getting Booster to listen to him instead of Guy Gardner wasn't even as hard as he'd expected.

It was _convincing_ Booster that was the hard part. But Booster did eventually relent. Tim felt a bit like what he was doing was a terrible idea, but by this point, sucking at retirement was practically a Blue Beetle tradition.


	12. Computer Bug

Title: Computer Bug  
Characters: Ted Kord  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 250  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: AU. Totally [](https://users.livejournal.com/--marcelo/profile)[](https://users.livejournal.com/--marcelo/)**__marcelo** 's fault. TOTALLY. He writes this sort of thing all the time, and I was surprised that he hadn't written this specific concept, because well, it practically writes itself. And, as a matter of fact, it did. Funny how that works.

\---

Ted couldn't decide if it was horribly unfair or poetic justice, having his back broken like so much dry kindling by an evil robot he helped build. He just wished he could figure out what happened after that, since the next thing he recalled was regaining consciousness propped up against a tree outside the bunker.

Ted _could_ invent something to fix his spine; there was no doubt about that. He'd even thought up a few designs and very nearly started a prototype of one, but then he had a thought of eventually being a creature more machine than man, doing something disgustingly supervillain-like, such as dangling a superhero over a vat of acid, or something equally ridiculous, so he didn't. There was no need to give the mad scientist genes any more encouragement than necessary.

Ted couldn't help but feel guilty and somehow responsible for the loss of the Blue Beetle. The knowledge that there were criminals out there that Doc Garrett would’ve beaten up, but couldn’t anymore bothered him, made it hard to sleep at night. Ted felt like he had to do something about it, chair or not.

Ted could get in contact with some superheroes, dropping some information here and there. His name, or rather, the name he'd adopted to hide his identity, spread across the hero community as a great go-to source and across the Internet as a grand urban legend.

Ted couldn't go out and fight bad guys in person. The Oracle didn't need to.


	13. The Root of Robbery

Title: The Root of Robbery  
Characters: Booster Gold  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 156  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Because canon is taking its dear sweet time explaining what Booster was up to in between OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis. Muchos gracias to [](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/profile)[](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/)**wonderfish** for beta-ry.

\---

Booster had always kind of thought the idea that criminals would unfailingly return to the scene of the crime was bunk, so, of course, here he was at the Space Museum. He didn't even know why; it had been an entirely compulsive, downright idiotic, completely spur-of-the-moment decision. But there he was, so he decided to make the most of it.

He was surprised at first to see a piece of Brother Eye on display, followed by satisfaction that the damn thing had gotten what it had coming to it. Pride swelled in his chest as he read the blurb about it, seeing "Blue Beetle" credited with its demise, even though he knew it wasn't Ted.

And then he saw the year it happened in, and dismay took over. There was too much time; it got to stick around and kill people for too long. It needed to happen sooner.

Booster needed to _make_ it happen sooner.


	14. Illusions and Other Tricks

Title: Illusions and Other Tricks  
Characters: Ted Kord, J'onn J'onzz, Barbara Gordon  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 213  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Will not make a damned lick of sense until you've read [](https://users.livejournal.com/--marcelo/profile)[**__marcelo**](https://users.livejournal.com/--marcelo/)'s [Masks](http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/273718.html) and [In The Company of Mirrors](http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/295328.html). Will make altogether too much sense afterwards.

\---

J'onn wasn't the least bit surprised at how quickly Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle became fast friends. After all, they had more in common than even they realized, being the only human members of the team save Guy Gardner. There had been times when J'onn had wanted to tell them the truth, but Ted was operating on the assumption that Dan Garrett was dead and had been a real person in the first place, and Booster on the assumption that history was right. Robbing them of that would be indefensible cruelty.

Ted had almost figured it out with Bloodwynd, though. It had taken some doing, but J'onn managed to finagle his way out of it with Ted none the wiser. Or so J'onn had hoped.

Barbara admitted that Ted was getting closer to the truth first. She was also the first to admit that if he did figure it out, he wouldn't be able to keep it quiet, given his track record with his own secret identity and his reaction to the Bloodwynd fiasco. And, of course, she was the first to come to terms with the fact that he had to be stopped before he found out too much.

It was an unforgivable betrayal, so, naturally, J'onn chose to be Max.


	15. MST3K Fodder

Title: MST3K Fodder  
Characters: Booster Gold, The Joker  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 407  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: When I started this prompt table, I said I'd do wharf rats for the Phobia prompt unless I could think of something better. I thought of something better. Strangely enough, this is nowhere near as terrifying as Booster vs. Joker as written by me has any right to be. Also, I swear that I wrote this long before the solicit to Booster Gold [#5](https://www.livejournal.com/rsearch/?tags=%235) came out, as my lovely beta [](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/profile)[](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/)**wonderfish** (betafish?) can confirm.

\---

The fact of the matter was Booster was terrified of clowns. Technically, he was terrified of one clown specifically, as anyone in their right mind was, but that did serve to make him vaguely jumpy around clowns in general, so he avoided circuses purely by principle. He avoided Gotham for a lot of reasons, but that was one of the major ones.

Unfortunately, his precautions had failed, seeing as he was now standing face-to-face with the Joker himself.

It didn't even make sense for the Joker to _be_ there. Sure, it was the set of a Batman movie, but Batman movies were a dime a dozen, urban legend or not, and there didn't seem to be anything overly special about this one in particular. In fact, judging by the set alone, it was downright cheap and lousy. There wasn't any reason for the Joker to be attacking it at all, seeing as how it was doing a pretty good job of sabotaging its own chances at anything remotely resembling success.

Booster quickly decided that he didn't _want_ to understand why the Joker was there and that he should concentrate more on making the Joker _not_ be there, which was not, it turned out, as hard as he would've thought it would be (that is to say, impossible), and, some creative applications of force fields and blasters later, Booster was as surprised as anyone to find an unconscious Joker. Booster would've liked to dump him on somebody better equipped to handle him immediately, but instead found himself nodding his way politely through the director thanking him for his help, and the hero couldn't help but ask him if he had any ideas why the Joker would be pissed off enough at his movie to attack it.

"Ah, well, you see.... This isn't actually much of an _action_ movie, you see,” the director said in a vaguely nervous sort of way.

"Really? What kind of move is it, then?" Booster asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's.... Well, it’s a _romance_ , actually, and, well.... We had to take a few _liberties_ , you see."

It was then that Booster noticed the actress with bright green hair and more make-up on than what was strictly necessary cautiously exiting her hiding place.

"Oh," he said shortly. "That would explain it."

When Booster turned the Joker in, he told the cops he hadn’t gotten hit with any Joker toxin, but they didn't seem terribly convinced.


	16. I Put Most of My Skill Points in Blather (And I Put the Rest in Knowledge (Booster Gold))

Title: I Put Most of My Skill Points in Blather (And I Put the Rest in Knowledge (Booster Gold))  
Characters: Yours Truly, Booster Gold  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 1,018  
Spoilers: Various events in 52, and one very small, convoluted, not actually spoilery reference to something in Booster Gold [#3](https://www.livejournal.com/rsearch/?tags=%233).  
Warnings: Self-insertion?  
A/N: Done for [](https://dcdailylife.livejournal.com/profile)[](https://dcdailylife.livejournal.com/)**dcdailylife**. 100% fun, insubstantial, 1st-person blathering. Seems I'm rather good at that. I kind of had to fudge my own time line a bit to make it work, but, honestly, give it a year or two, and this will fit absolutely perfectly into canon. Huzzah for the sliding time line!

\---

I moved to Metropolis about mid-August of last year. Great timing, huh? Move to Metropolis right when Superman decides he's going to take a year off. Not that I hold that against him, of course. The guy definitely earned his vacation, that's for sure. And, y'know, it's not like I moved to Metropolis to see Superman, anyway. I'm going to college.

OK, I'm going to _community_ college. I never claimed to be ambitious. It was my sister's idea, and I didn't really have any better plans.

Besides, Superman not being around suited me just fine, really, since, well....

OK, I'll admit it: I'm a big fan of Booster Gold. I realize that's not really a popular thing to be these days, but, well, I can't help it. I just plain like the guy. He first surfaced right around when I started becoming aware that there was a world outside my little bubble of Suburbiaville (not _actually_ named Suburbiaville, for the record) and he made quite the impression on my young, entering-puberty brain. Don't look at me like that; I am, unfortunately, only human, and, well, you can't deny that he's _extremely_ good-looking.

So, like, I said, I'm a big fan. _Huge_ fan. I even have a Conglomerate jacket. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the universe who even remembers there was a Conglomerate once, but I still wear the jacket all the time. (It's a nice jacket!) People are always asking me what the "C" stands for. It's.... Well, it's kind of depressing, really. But I always try to explain it. It's earned me some interesting looks. I guess I'm just a sucker for punishment.

Right, my move to Metropolis. There's a story there, as I'm sure you’ve deduced. (I don't seem to be very good at this first-person narration thing. Can we chalk it up to stream of consciousness and extreme distractibility?) Well, not so much my move to Metropolis as something that happened soon thereafter. Less than a week after I moved, even. So it kind of counts, right? Of course it does.

So, it's August 20th, and I've been in town for about 6 days and nothing exciting has happened yet. Until my sister and I are walking home from dinner. I'm still new in town, of course, so I'm looking around all over the place when I happen to observe what I can only describe as a gigantic Lovecraftian beastie a few streets down. Naturally, I observe this out loud. My sister looks over at it briefly and notes that it's a new one, and then promptly continues on her merry way. She's only been in Metropolis for about 2 years at this point. Jeezum Pete, am I right? Me, I linger for a while just staring at the stupid thing, trying to think of a good adjective that starts with an m to go with "magenta monstrosity." (Because, seriously, who expects a horror from beyond the deep to be a few shades shy of _hot pink_? It looked like it belonged in some sort of Barbie Playset of Innsmouth or something, I swear. The question is, of course, whether or not the idea of Barbie with the Innsmouth Look is hilarious or terrifying, or some sort of mystifying gestalt of both.)

So, I'm looking at this thing and trying to figure out if it's more apt to describe it as the result of an unholy threesome between a slug, an octopus, and a sea anemone or as the unholy threesome itself already in progress, when something, or, more aptly, some _one_ , crashes right into the street in front of me. I jump what was probably a solid foot into the air and, more than likely, scream like a little schoolgirl. But you can't prove anything.

If you'll forgive the Dungeons & Dragons reference, this is the part where I prove that I rolled spectacularly low on my Wisdom score. I approach. As if that wasn't evidence enough, I ask if he's OK. Absolutely _genius_ , that one.

By this point, of course, Booster Gold (he being my unexpected visitor, naturally) is back on his feet and gets most of the way through an "I'm fine" before he stops and stares at me like I've grown an additional head or two, and, for a minute, I'm worried I _have_. But then he flashes this _gorgeous_ smile at me (Would you believe he's even _prettier_ in person?) and says, "Nice jacket." Amazingly, I manage to stutter out a thanks before he's gone again, even though by now I'm blushing so hard, I could probably put Red Tornado to shame in the redness department. I don't really remember much about the rest of the trip home, other than the general feeling of euphoria and the sneaking suspicion that I spent the entire trip blathering endlessly at my sister.

To say that I was somewhat displeased to hear that Booster had died within the hour would be a charming exercise in understatement, to say the least. I wanted to hate Supernova, you know. I really, really did. It should've been easy, really, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, in a display of non-pettiness somewhat unusual for me.

And then he disappeared shortly after New Year's. Though, could you blame the guy after what happened then? Nobody should ever have to deal with that kind of thing on their own. But I will admit that I kept a better eye on Steel after that. Hey, Superman disappears, and then the next two guys who try to work in Metropolis die and disappear, respectively, you get a little worried, y'know? It's not like I'm the only person who thought there was a suspicious trend there or anything. But Steel never disappeared, and, after a while, Superman came back, and even Booster himself resurfaced not too long ago. No Supernova yet, though.

Y'know, I actually read an article online that theorized that Booster Gold and Supernova were one and the same. It was an interesting theory, but come on. Supernova was Booster Gold?

Who would believe _that_?


	17. Nightmares

Title: Nightmares  
Characters: Booster Gold  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 291  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: About as soul-crushingly depressing as you'd expect this prompt to be from me. Which is to say, very.  
A/N: So I wrote this in April, at the latest, had [](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/profile)[](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/)**wonderfish** beta it, and then left it on my hard drive and forgot about it. Genius! So have some kinda old fic. Strangely, it seems to have aged somewhat well and I like it better now than I did when I wrote it. Make of that what you will.

\---

He's always had nightmares. When he was young, they were always about things that scared him: bats, clowns, and rats, poison ivy, and men with two faces. At first, he'd go down the hall to his mother's room for reassurance, but once he figured out that they were only dreams and couldn't hurt him, he stopped, and only when a nightmare was particularly bad would he climb into his sister's bunk bed for the comfort of another warm body. As he got older, the nightmares became less and less of a problem, and it wasn't long before he'd simply wake up, roll over, and fall back asleep.

And then he started betting and the nightmares shifted from nightmares of terror to nightmares of regret. They weren't so bad at first, and he'd simply shake them off in the morning and go on with his life. It was only when he got caught that they became unbearable. But like the nightmares that came before, he learned to deal with them, even as they got worse and worse as he gathered more and more things that never should have happened, words he never should have said, and people who never should have died.

There was one dream, where he was surrounded by superheroes. He couldn't really make out any details in the sea of bright colors, except for their smiles, wide and true. The scene was dominated by Superman, his smile the broadest and most genuine of the bunch, shaking his hand and clasping his shoulder, talking about what a good job he'd done, and what a great hero he was, and how proud he was to fight alongside him.

It was the only dream he could never get back to sleep after.


	18. Preventive Measures

Title: Preventive Measures  
Characters: Jonar Carter (Booster's father), Booster Gold  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 380  
Spoilers: Booster Gold [#4](https://www.livejournal.com/rsearch/?tags=%234)  
Warnings: Just the regular scary.  
A/N: From [this interview that you should have read months ago anyway](http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=125749):  
 _BOOSTER: Careful's my middle name._

_SKEETS: Actually, your middle name is Jon, which in 25th Century English is short for Jonar, which means "he who tries and fails."_

_BOOSTER: It was my father's name. Long story._

_SKEETS: One I myself am anxious to hear._

I was anxious to hear it, too. So I wrote it. Sort of. AU fic and let's hope it stays that way, eh? Beta'd by [](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/profile)[**wonderfish**](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/).

\---

Life was good for Jonar. He was staying on the straight and narrow, he had a girl, and things were only looking to get better. He was happy, and everything was going great.

Right up until a hand came down heavily on his shoulder and something poked into his side that made it entirely clear that "No" would not be an acceptable answer to the "Hello, Jonar. We need to have a talk. Don't you agree?" that followed it.

"What do you want?" Jonar asked, as the man guided him through the streets of Gotham.

The blond smirked the way Jonar had seen countless other runners of all kinds smirk before answering, "I told you. We need to have a talk."

"I've gone clean," Jonar informed him.

"Yes, I'm sure that will last a very long time," the man replied sarcastically.

"I'm not going to sing, either."

The man sighed. "Jonar, Jonar, relax. This isn't about anything you've done. It's about what you're going to do."

"I'm not going to do a _damned_ thing for you," Jonar spat out.

The blond stranger let out a short, derisive laugh before adding coldly, "You have no idea how right you are."

Jonar started praying to every deity he could think of for his survival as he was directed into an alleyway.

"I should thank you, you know, for showing me that I needed to be proactive instead of reactive," the man said, waving his (strangely anachronistic and extremely illegal) gun around vaguely. "I'm not saying you were right, because you weren't. But you helped me see that Rip wasn't entirely right, either. The time stream _does_ need to be protected, but not just from people like you who try to twist it to your own ends. _All_ time travelers are dangerous. So I've been getting rid of them. Congratulations, Jonar, you're the last one on my list. Second-to-last, really, but getting rid of you now should kill two birds with one stone." He aimed the gun at Jonar, cracking a smile. "I'd tell you that it's nothing personal, but I'd be lying."

"You're crazy," Jonar replied, his voice heavily tinged with fear.

"Maybe. I always did have a bad habit of taking after my father," the stranger said before pulling the trigger.


	19. 20 Random Facts about Booster Gold

Title: 20 Random Facts about Booster Gold  
Author: [](https://boredom-doodles.livejournal.com/profile)[**boredom_doodles**](https://boredom-doodles.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: PG  
Characters: Booster Gold, various others  
Warning(s): None  
Word Count: 985  
Author's Note(s): Written for the [DC Random Facts Fest.](http://quirky-circe.livejournal.com/48763.html) [](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/profile)[**wonderfish**](https://wonderfish.livejournal.com/) helped.

\---

1\. Mikey's daddy didn't just leave; Mommy kicked him out. There were a lot of reasons why, the gambling being the biggest, but not deciding factor. They had fights, but they stayed together, until one night, Daddy got drunk and gave Mikey a black eye. _That_ was the final straw.

2\. The first time Mikey met his maternal grandmother was shortly after his daddy left. He couldn't understand most of what she talked about with Mommy, but he got enough to know that she didn't like Daddy at all and that Mommy didn't like her. It wasn't until much later that he figured out that she was rich and had disowned Ma for marrying Dad.

3\. When Mommy had work (and Mommy had work a lot), Mikey and Shel got sent down the hall to Mr. Clark's apartment. Wayne Clark was a very eccentric historian (his cupboards were well-stocked with tea and chocolate sandwich cookies and not much else), but he was good-natured and willing to watch the twins for free, so his faults were easy to forgive. Wayne always had plenty of stories to tell about superheroes, and Mike never got tired of listening to them.

4\. Sometimes, when Wayne was busy, Mom would take Mike and Shel to Uncle Rajiv's place instead. Uncle Rajiv grew and sold plants of all sorts, and, while Shel liked it well enough, Mike was always terribly bored with it all. He complained to Wayne about it once, so Wayne told him stories about Poison Ivy. Paranoia wasn’t much of an improvement over boredom.

5\. Mike had to write about what he wanted to be when he grew up for school, so he wrote about Superman. He didn't get any credit for it, though, since the teacher didn't consider Superman to be a valid career choice.

6\. Shel had decided she wanted to be a pilot, so she managed to get her hands on a biography of the guy who had single-handedly reinvented flight. Mike got bored and read it once. All he really got from it was that dying in a fire was a really crappy way to go.

7\. Every year, Uncle Rajiv gave Mike and Shel a Christmas tree for their birthday and Christmas combined. Christmas trees were rare and expensive, so they were the only people they knew with one. Mike liked that.

8\. When Wayne moved away, Mike begged him not to go. Wayne sighed and put his hand on Mike's shoulder and did his best to explain that sometimes people just need to move on in their lives, even if they don't want to.

9\. Mike's high school mascot was a Robin. The bird officially, of course, but nobody ever really paid attention to that. Booster always enjoyed trouncing other teams more when they made sidekick jokes.

10\. Booster had always hated rats, but his girlfriend insisted on going to see that horror movie about wharf rats, so he went. He didn’t get a good night's sleep for a solid week after that.

11\. The second time Booster met his maternal grandmother was when his ma started to get sick, to beg her for money. She refused to listen to him.

12\. Booster has read Sun Tzu's _Art of War_. His football coach had recommended it after his performance had started to falter, figuring that all Booster needed was some resolidification in the strategy department. The diagnosis had been wrong, of course, but the advice proved invaluable.

13\. Booster prayed to Wonder Woman, or, to be accurate, Diana, once. Snake Eyes, his bookie, was a worshiper of the Olympian gods and had arranged for Booster to meet him at a temple. While he was waiting, Booster admired the statue of Diana, (she being the only god in the pantheon he had more than a passing familiarity with) feeling increasingly guilty until he finally ended up asking her for help by the time Snake Eyes arrived. In retrospect, asking a goddess of truth for help had been _incredibly_ stupid of him.

14\. When it turned out that the textbook he needed for the Superhero History class at Metropolis U was written by Wayne Clark, Booster got in contact with him to see if he could weasel his way into a free copy. Wayne delivered it in person and they spent the whole day talking over tea. It was the last kindness anyone would pay Booster in the 25th century. He didn’t steal the time machine for another 4 months.

15\. Booster had difficulty convincing himself that he wasn’t dreaming when he first met Batman. He had even more difficulty convincing himself when Batman welcomed him into the Justice League.

16\. J'onn often visited the Conglomerate building to have tea with Gypsy, but he stopped by Booster's office once to let him know that he was always welcome to come back to the League if that's what he wanted. But then he put his hand on Booster’s shoulder and made it clear that he thought it was best that Booster move on.

17\. When Booster died, he wanted to stay that way. He appreciated that Ted cared enough to keep him alive, he really did, but that didn't stop him from hating him a little for it.

18\. Booster loves Metropolis because it looks just enough like home to make him stop feeling homesick for a while. He hates Gotham because it _feels_ exactly like home, even if it doesn’t look it, and that makes him feel even more homesick than usual.

19\. In the 25th century, it's considered passé to keep mourning someone after the funeral is over. That's why Booster never talks about Michelle. It's not that he wants to forget her (and even if he did, he never could), but if he started talking about her, he'd never be able to stop.

20\. Booster never told Ted a word of this.


	20. Charybdis Fig

Title: Charybdis Fig  
Characters: Booster Gold, Ted Kord, Michelle Carter (mentions)  
Rating: PG  
Word Count: 663  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: None  
A/N: Booster Gold [#1](https://www.livejournal.com/rsearch/?tags=%231) gave Booster an official birthdate, so, of course, I had to write something for it. Specifically, Booster's first birthday with the League. Coincidentally his first birthday after his sister died, too. Aheh. (Just be glad I didn't write about the birthday he inevitably had to have had during 52, I guess. That would be worse.)

\---

The Christmas tree in the lobby of the Justice League embassy was an impressive sight, tall and well decorated with all sorts of holiday ornaments. It had been a few days since Christmas, and the tree was steadily shedding dead needles, but for now its warm, colorful blinking lights were the only illumination in the room as Booster Gold entered the lobby and approached the tree.

He looked up at the pine in silence for a time before finally sighing and speaking. "[I've been dreading today, you know. I know I shouldn't and I know you wouldn't want that, but I just--]" Booster ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "[I miss you, Michelle. I miss you a lot. I don't know if you can hear me wherever you are, or if there's even a wherever for you to be, but if you're listening, I want you to know that I miss you and I'm really sorry for screwing everything up and things just haven't been the same without you.]"

Booster reached up and pulled a golden star-shaped ornament off the tree with a faint smile. "[Although I guess things wouldn't really be the same even with you. Christmas with the League is so _different_ from back home, you know? Everybody gets their own presents, and they're really nice presents, and everybody's so really, honestly happy, and it's all really great. I really wish you were here to see it. I think you'd like it a lot, Shel. It's all just really grand and overwhelming and everybody treats it like it's so _normal_. It's kind of bizarre, really.]"

He placed the ornament back on the tree and made sure it was secure before continuing. "[I haven't even told anybody what today is, you know. I'm not sure I should, really. It's not like it really matches up after all the time traveling I've done, right? And I--It just wouldn't feel right to celebrate it without you. I don't _want_ to celebrate it without you. I just want to--]"

"Booster? Are you talking to the Christmas tree in--I don't even know what language that is."

Booster turned around to face a very tired and confused-looking Ted Kord before answering, "It's Esperanto. What are you doing up?"

"I'm hungry. I'm getting a snack. Which is a much better reason to be up at this hour than deciding to have a conversation with the foliage in a language that no sane person speaks."

"I'm not--I just couldn't sleep, OK?"

"I don't know how to break this to you, Booster, but Christmas is over. You're a bit late to catch Santa Claus."

"That's not--Never mind. Go get your snack, Beetle."

"Wait, no, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing. Go back to bed."

"You're talking to a tree in Esperanto and you think you can get away with telling me that it's _nothing_? That's not going to happen."

Booster paused before answering, "It's our birthday today. My birthday. I guess hers doesn't count any more."

"...It counts if you want it to count. Nobody's going to argue with you."

"Our birthday, then," Booster said quietly.

An awkward silence passed before Ted put his hand on Booster's shoulder and said, "But, hey, it's your birthday: cheer up. Remind me when I'm actually awake; I'll take you out drinking."

"You don't have to--"

"I'm your best friend, Booster, of course I have to. It's in the contract."

"But--"

"We'll just have to drink extra for her, OK?"

There was a pause before Booster smiled and nodded. "OK."

Ted smiled back and gave Booster a pat on the back. "Now go get some sleep. It's gonna be a long day."

Booster watched Ted shuffle out of the lounge towards the kitchen before turning again to face the tree, looking at the angel at its top. "[It's been hard, you know, going on without you, Michelle, but I get by. I have good help.]"


End file.
